“For awhile there as they were coming in, I actually thought Hingham had us,” said Whitman-Hanson boys coach Matt Vercollone. “I was trying to do the math in my head and it shows that it was a really close race.”

Although the girls race didn’t have the drama that the boys race had, it did break a record.

Hingham (5-1) senior Julie McConville broke the 5K course record with a time of 17:36 as she came in 1:47 faster than the next finisher.

“We knew Julie was one of the top three runners in the state and we knew she was going to (finish first) against us,” said Whitman-Hanson girls coach Keith Erwin.

The races unoffically decided the Patriot League Keenan Division titles for the boys and girls as the two schools came into the day undefeated when the day began.

“We were the two favorites coming going into the season and it would take something drastic to change it,” said Vercollone of essentially wrapping up the division.

Erwin felt the importance of the match before it began.

“You never want the girls to see that I feel the pressure,” he said, “but (Hingham) is a very good team.”

Nate Stephansky was the top finisher in the boys meet, winning in 16:41 for the Panthers (5-0).

“(Nate) came close to his fastest time for last year,” said Erwin.

The Harbormen’s boys defeat left a sour, yet familiar taste in the mouths of Hingham.

“We come in every year and it gets a point closer,” said Hingham boys coach David Jewett. “We keep coming closer to winning, but we haven’t beat them yet. We haven’t beaten (Whitman-Hanson) in 30 years.

“They’ve always been fantastic,” Jewett added. “They were fantastic when (former coach) Kevin Black was here forever and Coach Vercollone has stepped up and done the same and they’ve kept that momentum rolling.”

The Harbormen felt like a chance slipped away when four of their top eight runners couldn’t finish or didn’t compete in the race.

“We’ve got a lot of weird sicknesses going on right now,” said Jewett.

The Whitman-Hanson girls and Hingham boys had similar strategies to pack runners with first place seemingly decided before the race even began for McConville and Stephansky.

“They executed perfectly,” said Erwin. “We needed our top four to beat their two and that’s what we did.”

Whitman-Hanson’s top four were Gianna Cacciatore, Sam Colletti, Rachel Baker and Abby Baker, who finished second through fifth.

Colletti, a freshman, finished third in 19:39.

Erwin praised sophomore Caroline Mulrey, who finished eighth.

“Caroline had, by far, her best race of the season,” Erwin said.

For the Hingham boys (5-1), that strategy didn’t work out nearly as well, despite strong performances such as Corbin Robichaud, who finished second in 17:19.